Ten Incarnation of Lord Vishnu - Part 3

VARAHA - The Boar

All glories to you, O Lord of the universe, who took the form of a boar.
When the earth fell into the ocean at the bottom of the universe you caught her on your tusk, 
where she looked like a spot on the moon.

Hiranyaksha was the first and greatest demon that ever walked this earth. His body was so big and strong that it blocked the view in all directions just like a mountain. The crest of his crown seemed to kiss the sky and cover the sun. When he walked the earth shook at his every step. Even the demigods hid themselves from him. Fearing death at the hands of no one, he wandered the earth searching for a suitable opponent to fight. He wore golden anklets, a golden girdle, golden bracelets on his arms, golden armour and a crown of gold. To obtain this gold he mined the earth. He considered the earth as his property to do with as he wished, and so he mined her deeper and deeper - so deep that she lost her inner balance and fell from her position in space. Plunging to the depths she came to rest in the primeval waters which lie at the very bottom of the universe. There she lay, lost and helpless in the darkness.

Vishnu saw the distress of the earth planet as she was lying in the dark ocean. He took the form of a gigantic boar, Varaha, and entered the universe to rescue the earth from the deep. It is said that he first appeared in a tiny form no larger than a thumb, and steadily grew until he seemed to fill the heavens. Although a boar is normally considered to be an ugly animal, Varaha was most beautiful. All the demogods and sages sung his glories as he dived into the ocean. Meanwhile Hiranyaksha, not caring for the earth's predicament, roamed about restlessly looking for someone with whom to do battle. As Varaha was picking up the earth on his tusks, the angry demon came upon him and eagerly challenged him to fight. There was a great battle, fought for the sake of the earth, in which the demon finally lost his life. Varaha picked up the earth and carefully restored her to her proper position in space.

A Little Inspiration

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, It is between you and God;
It never was between you and them anyway.

Minute God within us... Hindu Legand

..there was once a time when all human beings were gods, but they so abused their divinity that Brahma, the chief god, decided to take it away from them and hide it where it could never be found.

Where to hide their divinity was the question. So Brahma called a council of the gods to help him decide. "Let's bury it deep in the earth," said the gods. But Brahma answered, "No, that will not do because humans will dig into the earth and find it." Then the gods said, "Let's sink it in the deepest ocean." But Brahma said, "No, not there, for they will learn to dive into the ocean and will find it." Then the gods said, "Let's take it to the top of the highest mountain and hide it there." But once again Brahma replied, "No, that will not do either, because they will eventually climb every mountain and once again take up their divinity." Then the gods gave up and said, "We do not know where to hide it, because it seems that there is no place on earth or in the sea that human beings will not eventually reach."

Brahma thought for a long time and then said, "Here is what we will do. We will hide their divinity deep in the center of their own being, for humans will never think to look for it there."

All the gods agreed that this was the perfect hiding place, and the deed was done. And since that time humans have been going up and down the earth, digging, diving, climbing, and exploring--searching for something already within themselves.

Lessons From the World’s Greatest Minds -2

2. Overcoming Fear

“It was a high counsel that I once heard given to a young person, “Always do what you are afraid to do.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The best way to learn something is to dive right in to it. When we overcome our fear of failure, we learn that only those who are asleep make no mistakes. Fear is the only thing keeping us from experiencing a life of love and fulfillment. If we make a commitment to an uncompromisable quest for truth, we will realize that as we grow more into the truth, our fears start to disappear.

Action: You must define your fears in order to conquer them. Create a list of everything you’re afraid of and start facing them one at a time. Make a commitment to yourself now to not let fear rule your life.

Paradox of Hatred

Hatred is Never Appeased By Hatred

“He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,”
in those who harbour such thoughts hatred is not appeased.

“He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me”,
in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred is appeased.

The Story of Tissa Thera

Venerable Tissa, a cousin of the Buddha, did not pay due respect to the senior monks. When they admonished him, he threatened them, and complained to the Buddha. The Buddha urged him to apologise, but Tissa was obstinate. The Buddha related a story to show that Tissa had been just as obstinate in a previous life. He had to ask forgiveness from the senior monks.

Hatred is Conquered by Love

Hatred never ceases through hatred in this world;
through love alone does it cease. This is an eternal law.

A Story of Jealousy

A husband had two wives, one barren, the other fertile. Due to jealousy, the barren wife put a drug in her rival’s food and caused two successive abortions. On the third occasion the potion caused the death of both mother and child. The dying woman vowed to take revenge, and fulfilled her resolve. The other too did likewise. Thus both women avenged themselves in the course of two successive births. In their third birth circumstances, however, compelled both to meet the Buddha, who pacified them by advising them not to retaliate.

Essence of Time

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day. Every evening deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day.
What would you do? Draw out every cent? Of course !! Each of us has such a bank.
It's name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours.
There is no going back.
there is no drawing against the "tomorrow".
You must live in the present on today's deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running.
Make the most of today!!!
To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train.
To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time.
Time waits for no one.
Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is mystery
Today is a gift
That's why its called the present....
We so often neglect to show our friends our much we care.

The Best Is Yet to Come

She was dying. Her life was measured not in years...or months...but in weeks and days. She called the minister to her home to make her final preparations.

As they talked of her funeral, she listed the scriptures she wanted read and the hymns she wanted sung.

The the lady said to the minister, ''When I'm placed in my casket I want you to put a fork in my hand.'' Noticing the puzzled look on the minister's face, she asked if anything was wrong. ''Oh, no,'' he replied, ''but it's the first time anyone has made such an unusual request.''

So the lady began to explain. ''All my life I have attended church dinners and fellowships. Whenever we finished the meal, someone would come to collect the dishes and say, 'Keep your fork.'

I knew what this meant. The best was yet to come. There would be apple pie or chocolate cake or some other delicacy. And I know for me, the best is yet to come. My death is not a time of sadness but of celebration. So I want to have a fork put in my hand. You can tell the people why in your message.

The lady died. The minister meticulously followed her instructions. Everyone who passed the casket saw the fork in her hand, and everyone wondered, ''Why''
The scripture was read, the hymns were sung, the message was given and the story was told. Then everyone knew the reason for the fork and understood the amazing picture it portrayed.

I think I might like to be buried with a fork in my hand. The best is yet to come. Eternity...the Saviour...Heaven. And the best is yet to come even now...God's deepening grace...His powerful Presence...the smile of His approval.

Always keep a fork in your hand...not literally, but spiritually and mentally...and look for the best...now...and yet to come!

Values... What Values???

Recently high-school values clarification class conducted by a teacher in Teaneck, New Jersey. A girl in the class had found a purse containing $1,000 and returned it to its owner. The teacher asked for the class's reaction. Every single one of her fellow students concluded the girl had been foolish. Most of the students contended that if someone was careless, they should be punished. When the teacher was asked what he said to the students, he responded, "Well, of course, I didn't say anything. If I come from the position of what is right and what is wrong, then I'm not their counsellor. I can't impose my views."

If we do not learn values from our parents and teachers, who do we learn them from? And when they don't teach us values, we pick them up by default from television and other such undesirable sources. No wonder society gets messed up. The teacher such as in the example above is not only irresponsible with distorted values but does not deserve to be teaching our kids.

Through generations, some values have crystallized as eternal and universal, which give us our clear “do’s and don’ts”.

... But today there is a concept of relative values and relative principles. Today’s concept of relative values says, “Everything is OK. What’s right for me, may not be right for you.”

If values are subjective and they keep changing from person to person and situation-to-situation, then they are not values at all. or are they???

Greed!!...Where does it ends

There is a story about a wealthy farmer who was once offered all the land he could walk
on in a day, provided he came back by sundown to the point where he started. To get a
new start, early the next morning the farmer started covering ground quickly because he
wanted to get as much land as he could. Even though he was tired, he kept going all
afternoon because he didn't want to miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to gain more
wealth.

Late in the afternoon he realized the condition he had to fulfil to get the land was to get
back to the starting point by sundown. His greed had gotten him far enough. He started
his return journey, keeping an eye on how close he was to sundown. The closer it got to
sundown, the faster he ran. He was exhausted, out of breath and pushed himself beyond
the point of endurance. He collapsed upon reaching the starting point and died. He did
make it before sundown. He was buried and all the land he needed was a small plot.
There is a lot of truth in this story and a lesson to be learned. Whether the farmer was
wealthy or not, any greedy person would have ended the same way.

Choices

If live gives us rocks, don't sit back and blame life for that.
At every turn of our life, it gives us choices which we fail to recognise.

So when life gives you rocks,
It's still your choice whether to build a wall or to build a bridge.

Success

Success eludes many people because they define it too narrowly. They see it only in superficial terms of money, or fame, or power, and completely miss the real essence of success.

If you strive solely for material wealth, or influence, or the praise of others, then you're merely pursuing the empty shell of success, without ever attaining success itself. Such an approach rarely ever works, and even when it does it quickly crumbles.

Real success comes from adding value to the world in your own special way. And every day presents you with an abundance of opportunities for doing that.

Today is no exception. This very day, you can be as successful as the world's most widely acclaimed billionaire, simply by using what you have, to do what you can.

Success is found in directing your life toward a meaningful purpose. No amount of money, or power, or fame can ever equal that.

Born to Win?

An eagle's egg was placed in the nest of a prairie chicken. The egg hatched and the little eagle grew up thinking it was a prairie chicken. The eagle did what the prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds. It clucked and cackled. It never flew more than a few feet because that is what the prairie chickens did. One day he saw an eagle flying gracefully and majestically in the open sky. He asked the prairie chickens: "What is that beautiful bird?" The chickens replied, "That is an eagle. He is an outstanding bird, but you cannot fly like him because you are just a prairie chicken." So the eagle never gave it a second thought, believing that to be the truth. He lived the life of and died a prairie chicken, depriving himself of his heritage because of his lack of vision.

What a waste! He was born to win, but was conditioned to lose.

Looking for Gold?

As a young Scots boy, Andrew Carnegie came to America and started doing odd jobs. He ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in the United States. At one time he had 43 millionaires working for him.

Several decades ago, a million dollars used to be a lot of money; even today it is a lot of money. Someone asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people? Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is like digging gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold, you have to move tons of dirt to get an ounce of gold. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking
for the gold."

David and Goliath

There was a giant who was bullying and harassing the children in the village.

One day, a 17-year-old shepherd boy came to visit his brothers and asked, "Why don't you stand up and fight the giant?" The brothers were terrified and they replied, "Don't you see he is too big to hit?" But David said, "No, he is not too big to hit, he is too big to miss."

The rest is history. We all know what happened. David killed the giant with a sling. Same giant, different perception.

Why Me? Oh GOD.....Why Me??

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983. From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed:
'Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease'?
To this Arthur Ashe replied:
'The world over --
50 million children start playing tennis,
5 million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional tennis,
50,000 come to the circuit,
5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon,
4 to semi final,
2 to the finals,
when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?' .....
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' '

'Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing,
but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going...

The Road NOT Taken...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

--Robert Frost

"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost is a poem that seems simple and direct but actually has a two-fold meaning. Frost lures in the readers with a rhythmic poem that could have a figurative or literal meaning depending upon the reader's assessment.

Literally, "The Road Not Taken" is about a traveler who is walking in the woods and has come upon two roads. The traveler cannot travel both roads and thus must make a decision which one to walk. He evaluates both roads and chooses the road less traveled realizing that he cannot back. The poem ends by the traveler stating that his choosing the road less traveled has made all the difference.

Figuratively, "The Road Not Taken" can be applied to a person's life. The traveler is a person who has two choices, which are represented in the poem by the two roads in the woods. The person takes the time to consider both choices and all sides to them by examining the paths. The traveler cannot come back to the other road and as in life if a choice is made, it is impossible to redo. The person must choose between the choices many make or the choice that few make.

My interpretation of the meaning of the Poem: Life if all about making choice, it offers you options all the time, and it's upto you to choose the path and move on....

Whatever choice you make, will have some influence on your circle of life(s).

Power of Passion

The story is told that a dispassionate young man approached the Greek philosopher Socrates and casually stated, "O great Socrates, I come to you for knowledge".

The philosopher took the young man down to the sea, waded in with him, and then dunked him under the water for thirty seconds. When he let the young man up for air, Socrates asked him to repeat what he wanted.

Knowledge, only O great one," he sputtered. Socrates put him under the water again, only that this time it was a little longer. After repeated dunking and responses, the philosopher asked, "what do you want"? The young man finally gasped, "Air; I want air!"

"Good," answered Socrates. "Now, when you want knowledge as much as you wanted air, you shall have it."

The are no two ways about it. If you want anything badly enough, you can find the willpower to achieve it. The only way to have that kind of desire and willpower is to develop passion.

Passion is everything:

A sociologist observed, "We are caught up at a particular stage in our national ethos in which we're not only materialistic but worse than that, we're becoming emotionally dead as people. We don't sing, we don 't dance, we don't even commit sin with much enthusiasm."

If you look at the lives of successful individuals, you will find that they often don't fit into a stereotypical mold. For example, more than 50 percent of all CEOs in the country had 'C' or 'C-' grade averages in higher institutions. Nearly 80 percent of all Nigerian presidents were in the bottom half of their school classes.

And more than 65 percent of all millionaire entrepreneurs never went to higher institution or never finished. What makes it possible for people who might seem ordinary to achieve great things? It is passion. Nothing can take this place of passion in their lives.

For you to achieve anything in life, passion must come first. Think of great leaders, and you will be struck by their passion: Zik for One Nigeria, Gandhi for human rights, Churchill for freedom, Martin Luther King Jr. for equality, Bill Gates for technology, Mother Teresa for service to the poor, Robert W. Woodruff for coke at every table etc.

These men live beyond an ordinary life and have great desire. Call it passion, commitment or conviction. Whatever the name, powerful leaders have it in large measure. They also insist on sharing it, constantly. Their passion is not directionless. It is sharply focused around what they want to achieve. It is concentrated and, like a laser beam, cuts through objections, obstacles and negativity. It is hard to say no to someone who cares so strongly about something and difficult to resist being drawn into their vision and becoming engaged.

It is passion that causes people to stay up late and get up early. It' s passion that helps relationship flourish. Passion gives life power, energy and meaning. There is no greatness without a passion to be great, whether it's the aspiration of an athlete or an artist, a scientist, a parent or a businessman...

Whenever anything fires our soul, impossibilities vanish....so don't under rate the power of passion.

See you over the top!

Know Your Value!

A well-known speaker started off his public speech in a strange manner – by holding up a Rupee 1000 Note !! Holding up the Note high in the air in one of his hands, he addressed the eagerly looking curious audience, "Who would like this Rupee 1000 Note?"

With great cheers almost all of them raised their hands with the shout, "I want it", "I want it" !! He said, "Oh! that's nice. Well, I am going to give this Note to one of you... But, first let me do this." Then, he crumpled the Note in his hands vigorously & now showed the awkwardly wrinkled 1000 Rupee Note by holding up high in his hand.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

The same hands went up in the air this time too.

"Well", he replied, "What if I do this?" and he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe like a mad man. It seemed he is deriving great merriment in his unusual act. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. It was so smudgy that no one could recognise it now as a 1000 Rupee Note. "Now who still wants it?" Strangely, now also, all the hands were up in the air with equal cheers & spirit.

Now he addressed his audience with great feeling. "My friends," said he, "You have all learned a very valuable lesson today. No matter what I did to this valuable Rupee Note, all of you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth the same - Rs.1000/-

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt of shame & insult by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come in our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. In the eyes of God, you are the same "most precious jewel of His".

"VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED !"

God - The Almighty

A conversation between a student and professor, I bet you certainly would not like to miss.......

:Narinder Sharma.

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An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God - The Almighty.

He asks one of his new students to stand and.....

Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof : Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student : Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.

Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent..)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student: Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student : No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student: Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Prof:So, who created them? (Student has no answer.)
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you.
Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student: No, sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Prof: Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student: No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist.

Prof: What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student: Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student: No sir. There isn't.

(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat.

But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold . Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat . We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy . Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student: Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.

Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student: Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument is going..)

Student: Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain,sir.

With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student: That is it sir... The link between man & god is FAITH . That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

My wife forwarded this email to me (which was of-course sent to her by some of her friend..); But it does not loose any value because I picked up from an forwarded email. Life is much more than we understand and we think have understood........I found this article mind grinding.. a food for our brain... to break the illusion and rise to epiphany. Email claimed that this is a true conversation that happened; and the student was none other than..........APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India.

An Obstacle In Your Path

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock.

Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded.

After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse laying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king with a Note that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway.

The peasant learned what many of us never understand.

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.